MUMBAI: A district forum recently reprimanded Bombay Hospital for arbitrarily levying a 20% surcharge on medicines and material supplied from the "main operation theatre store" in the case of a Walkeshwar woman who underwent orthopaedic surgery in 2014. "The hospital miserably failed to justify that levy of surcharge is permitted by law and is legitimate," the forum said.

It said that while it did not want to interfere in the requirement of medical commodities of doctors in the operation theatre, it would be reasonable to interfere in the issue of application of surcharges on cost of medical commodities. "The complainant proved that levy of surcharges by the hospital is erroneous, and this is the unfair trade practice and deficiency in services," the forum held.

The forum directed the hospital to refund the Rs 32,000 surcharge and ordered it to pay Rs 24,000 as compensation to the complainant, Usha Kedia.

The forum found that the hospital had not levied the surcharge on medicines and supplies from the pharmacy, but only on those supplied from the main operation theatre store. The forum perused the bills and said that it was pertinent that a large quantity of medical commodities had been purchased from the "main operation theatre store".

It refuted the hospital's defence that maintaining adequate stock of drugs, disposables appliances and other commodities in the operation theatre requires separate staff and inventory, and hence the costs need to recovered from patients. "Even though the hospital elucidated its organizational structure and reasons with respect to recovery of surcharges from patients, it failed to substantiate that under which provisions of law or under which sanctioned scheme approved by law or by appropriate authority it recovered the surcharges," the forum said. The hospital claimed that the orthopaedic operation theatre was not a pharmacy and the stock temporarily stored there was only meant for the use of operation theatre patients.

Kedia filed the complaint before South Mumbai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in December 2015. The complaint said that she was admitted to the hospital on September 24, 2014, and underwent surgery the next day.

In addition to the hospital, Kedia submitted the plea against National Insurance Co Ltd for not reimbursing the entire amount. The complaint said that out of the total cost of Rs 2.1 lakh (excluding surcharge), the insurance company deducted amounts under various heads. The forum said the insurance firm did not prove that under which specific terms and condition of the policy it had disallowed amounts from the total claim. It directed the insurance firm to reimburse the deducted Rs 19,000, along with a compensation of around Rs 19,500.

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